A couple weeks ago, I went to the John Molson Sports Marketing Conference at Concordia University, where I had the pleasure to listen to Tom Wright, Director of UFC Canada, give a talk about branding. Not everyone is a fan of the UFC, and that’s alright. I am not really a big fan of the UFC myself to be honest. However, everything he mentioned about the UFC brand made sense, and I admire them for that.

He mentioned 5 key aspects of the UFC brand that can be applied to personal branding (or just branding in general):

Be Authentic

Remember Your Roots

Show Your Energy

Be Accessible

Nobody Likes A Poser

Be Authentic

The UFC is pretty much “as real as it gets.” There are no fake fights like the WWE. These are real athletes, in a ring, fighting to be a champion. The UFC and their athletes are the real deal, and so should you be. Whatever your offer is has to be real. Just be honest, and people will accept you for who you are. If you start lying about your offer just to please people, you will start losing credibility. So make sure your offer is authentic, and that you can deliver on your promises.

Remember Your Roots

Always remember where you came from. This is part of who you are, and who you’ve become. And never forget that. Embrace your past, and learn from it. You can’t change the past, but you can change the future. So just embrace your roots, because they gave birth to who you are now.

Show Your Energy

The UFC is a high-energy brand. If you’ve ever watched an event, you can see how intense it can be in that stadium. And the brand feeds off of that. Your brand should too! Be enthusiastic about your offer. Nobody wants to receive an offer from someone that doesn’t really show they care about it. Show your emotions through your brand. Are you happy about a certain accomplishment? Show it! Let people know that you are excited about who you are. Confidence in your own brand can go a long way.

Be Accessible

The UFC wouldn’t be anything without its fans. At every single event, fans gather up to meet their favorite athletes, and have a chance to spend some time with them. This creates an exceptional experience which makes the UFC unique. This should be the same with you. How successful would a company be without any customers, or stakeholders? If nobody is interested in your offer, how successful will you be?

Be accessible to your fans: customers, shareholders, the community at large, the media, your family, your friends, etc. When was the last time you took a moment to say “thank you” to your best customers? When was the last time you opened up to your fans? Are you really there for them? Without support from fans, what would your offer really be? After reading this post, you should at least take the time to say thank you to someone that has made you who you are right now. Be accessible.

Nobody Likes A Poser

When people tell you just be yourself, you should really be taking this to heart. Look at Dana White, President of the UFC. Have you ever checked out his twitter feed? You will notice several F-Bombs, insults towards haters, sarcasm, etc. And that’s OK, because that’s who he is. He has over 1.7 million followers on twitter, he’s extremely popular with a younger generation, and he’s synonymous with the UFC brand, all the while being the aggressive personality that he is.

If he would think your a poser, he would probably tell you to… you know. He definitely is not a poser, and that’s what makes him unique. Be yourself. You can’t please everyone, and you have to realize this. Don’t be afraid to do something (or not do something) because it might upset someone. If that’s who you are, that’s who you are. Nobody likes a poser.

So, what other aspects should be considered in personal branding? Do you agree with what Tom Wright had to say about branding? Why or why not?

2 thoughts on “What the UFC Can Teach You About Personal Branding”

But: “…Look at Dana White, President of the UFC. Have you ever checked out his twitter feed? You will notice several F-Bombs, insults towards haters, sarcasm, etc. And that’s OK, because that’s who he is”

Sorry, not acceptable, there is no occassion possible where you need to be rude to people or speak to the unknown web public utilising foul language. It only displays your lack of education and imagination (or “roots” as you call it). Soon as foul language is deemed necessary, it indicates you are deeply lacking in self discipline…. a major component of personal branding.

What is UFC?…I can decipher, they are some sort of fighters in a ring?

Dana White does get a lot of criticism for being offensive. However, it is part of his brand image. He has a lot of fans that accept him for that, because it’s his personality. He’s rough, he’s real, he does whatever he wants. You can’t please everyone, and he’s OK with that. There are a lot of people out there that dislikes him, and he’s OK with that. If he starts changing who he is in order to please everyone, he would be a poser and lose authenticity. Could he do without being vulgar? Probably. Would he have all the fans he has now? Probably not.

The reason I wanted to highlight him is really for the fact that you simply cannot please everyone. You just have to be yourself. If some people do not like you for who you are, that’s alright. But there are some people out there that do. His fans love him, even though he is offensive. He satisfies his target market, which is really what counts.

As for the UFC, it is the largest promoter of Mixed Martial Arts in the world. Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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Daniel Hebert

A little bit more about me…

Daniel Hebert is an award-winning graduate of Mount Allison University. While he studied marketing, his favourite subject was learned outside the classroom: Social Media Strategy. Daniel has been a social media manager in the B2B sector, and now has his own blog.
Daniel’s social media presence has gotten him a lot of attention in his local community, which has lead to guest speaking events. It also led to others writing pieces about his social media approach, including articles from Ragan Communications, Media Bistro, and Chris Dessi, CEO of Silverback Social.
Daniel has an entrepreneurial, self-motivated attitude, which has led him to be a finalist in one of Canada’s top business competition for students. If he wasn’t a marketer, he would take his love for food and become a chef. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.